Bactericera minuta (Crawford, 1910)

(Fig. 158–161)

Trioza minuta Crawford 1910a: 232.

Trioza marginata Crawford 1910a: 232; secondary homonym of Psylla marginata Hartig 1841: 374 (in Trioza).

Trioza arizonae Aulmann 1912: 144, replacement name for Trioza marginata Crawford nec Psylla marginata Hartig (in Trioza).

Phylloplecta minuta; Caldwell 1940: 50.

Materials examined. Type material of Trioza minuta Crawford, 1910. Lectotype ♀: USA: “Ariz 2304” “Coll CF Baker” “ Trioza minuta Crawf. ” (USNM, dry mounted), here designated; paralectotypes 3♀, same data as lectotype.

Type material of Trioza marginata Crawford, 1910. Lectotype ♀: USA: “Ariz 2015”, “Coll CF Baker”, “type No. 18087 U.S.N.M.”, “ Trioza marginata Crawf. ” (USNM, dry mounted), here designated; paralectotypes: 1 adult without abdomen (according to original description a ♂), 2 ♀, same data as lectotype.

Additional material. El Salvador: San Miguel (USNM, dry mounted). – Mexico: México (NHMB, dry mounted and in 70% ethanol); Mexico City (USNM, dry mounted); Michoacán (NHMB, in 70% ethanol; USNM, dry mounted); Morelos (USNM, dry mounted); Oaxaca (USNM, dry mounted); Puebla (USNM, dry mounted); San Luis Potosí (USNM, dry mounted); Sinaloa (USNM, dry mounted); Sonora (USNM, dry mounted); Veracruz (USNM, dry mounted). – USA: Arizona: 1 ♂, same data as type series of Trioza minuta (USNM, dry mounted) and additional material from various localities (USNM, dry mounted); California (USNM, dry mounted); Kansas (USNM, dry mounted); Oklahoma (USNM, dry mounted); Texas (USNM, dry mounted).

Distribution. Reported from USA (AZ) (Crawford 1910b, 1911a). El Salvador (USNM); Mexico (NHMB, USNM); USA (AZ, CA, KS, OK, TX) (USNM).

Host plant. Salix bonplandiana Kunth (Salicaceae) (NHMB data); probably also other Salix spp.

Comments. The examination of types of Trioza minuta and T. marginata Crawford (USNM) showed the two are conspecific. Specimens of the former are very teneral but bear indistinct brown areas along the hind margin of the forewing, a character not mentioned by Crawford (1911a). The species is characterized by the narrow dark band along the hind margin of the forewing, often lighter and less expanded in males, the presence of surface spinules on the forewing membrane, the straight, relatively short posterior lobes on the male proctiger (Fig. 158), the lamellar paramere (Fig. 159), the long apical inflation (half as long as segment) of the distal segment of the aedeagus with very short sclerotized end tube of the ductus ejaculatorius (Fig. 160, 161) and the short, apically truncate female subgenital plate (see also key in Appendix 1). There is some variation in the antennal coloration and the extent of the dark wing pattern. In the types of T. minuta the antennal segments 3–8 are light and 9–10 dark brown, in the types of T. marginata Crawford segments 4–8 gradually darken towards the antennal apex; in specimens from Mexico (NHMB, USNM) only segment 3 is light and segments 4–10 are dark brown or black, strongly contrasting from segment 3.